Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – The pink plastic flamingo, a Florida- inspired icon that has been reviled as kitschy bad taste and revered as retro cool, is dead at age 49.
The pop culture symbol met its demise after its manufacturer, Union Products, of Leominster, Mass., was socked with a triple economic threat – increases in costs of electricity and plastic resin combined with loss of financing. Production ended in June, and the plant is scheduled to close Wednesday, according to president and chief executive Dennis Plante. Union Products made 250,000 of its patented plastic pink flamingos a year in addition to other garden products.
Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, paid tribute to the infamous bird that has been immortalized everywhere – from the John Waters movie “Pink Flamingos” to bachelor parties and lawns across America.
“Let’s face it,” he said. “As iconic emblems of kitsch, there are two pillars of cheesy, campiness in the American pantheon. One is the velvet Elvis. The other is the pink flamingo.”
The birth of the plastic pink flamingo in 1957 coincided with the booming interest in Florida, Thompson said, making it possible for those in other parts of the country to have a little piece of the Sunshine State’s mystique in their yard.
By the late ’70s, according to Thompson, the pink flamingo became a symbol of bad taste. It was considered trash culture and embraced by folks with a wise-guy attitude. They knew better (wink, wink) but embraced the iconic symbol anyway.
By the late ’80s and early ’90s, he said, we learned to make fun of pop culture items such as the pink flamingo as well as appreciate them.
“The pink flamingo has gone from a piece of the Florida boom and Florida exotica to being a symbol of trash culture to now becoming a combination of all we know – kitsch, history, simplicity and elegance,” Thompson said.
Don Featherstone, the bird’s creator, retired as president of Union Products about six years ago, but he still promotes his creation and will continue to do so post-mortem.
On Oct. 5, he spoke on what would have been the upcoming 50th anniversary of the plastic pink flamingo at the Ig Nobel prizes at Harvard University. The Ig Nobels, a parody of the Nobel prizes, are given for achievements that “first make people laugh and then make them think,” according to Improbable Research, creator of the awards. Featherstone was honored in 1996 for his creation, which he originally sculptured from clay using a National Geographic photograph.
Several folks have stopped by to see Featherstone and get their pictures taken with him.
“They think the pink flamingos could be extinct, and they think I will be extinct soon too,” he said. “It is sad that it is happening, but it may not be dead yet.”
Featherstone and Plante are hoping for a resurrection. Plante has been seeking another company to buy the molds. So far, two companies in the U.S. and one in Canada have expressed interest.
“I am hoping that someone will come forward and save the plastic pink flamingo from extinction,” Plante said.
Until then, you can buy them on eBay, where they were selling for $12.95 and $17.56 last week.
“I can’t imagine that there won’t be any way to get a pink flamingo anywhere but on eBay,” Thompson.
“We are so much into a big retro craze. All the baby boomers are looking mortality in the eye, and there is so much nostalgia for the things of their childhood such as old toys and candy.
“When the news gets out that you can’t get them anymore, I think there will be a demand. It may not be the demand there was before, but there will be demand as a specialty item.”
